The Dons signed Lukas Culjak during January transfer window after a successful trial period with the club.

The defender started his career with Bayern Munich before signing for Borussia Dortmund in 2013. Lukas was born in Germany but has dual nationality and has represented Croatia at youth level.

The centre-half has had a big impact in the games he has played so far for the U20s. Despite coming to a new country, getting used to a new culture and language, never mind new team mates and a different style of football, Lukas has made a hugely impressive start to his career at Pittodrie.

On the day of his 19th birthday a few weeks ago, Lukas celebrated by sitting down to talk to RedMatchday and told us how he was settling in to both the club and city.

“Aberdeen is a really nice place. Everyone is very friendly. This is a wonderful football club and perfect for me. I am enjoying playing football here. Before I arrived I knew very little about Aberdeen or even Scotland. I had never been to this country before. Despite that it was not a difficult decision for me to come here. It was a great opportunity. I have a contract to the end of the season but hopefully I can stay here longer. I like the club and the city. The coaches have been very good to me as well as my team mates.

“Living away from home is not a problem for me. In Germany, my family live in Munich and I was playing for Dortmund so I lived alone. I miss my family, but it is something you have to deal with. I am alone here but it is not a problem because I know my family are always there for me when I need them. I am loving life over here. All the players have made me very welcome. Everyone gets on very well in the dressing room and they have made it very easy for me.

“I spend my free time with Cem Felek and Kalvin Orsi and also Jamie Henry, who was featured in last week’s programme. The Scottish language is difficult! I learned English at school but when I came over here I did not understand the people! The language is different to what I learnt. I am slowly getting used to it though.

“I have lived my whole life in Germany. My mum is German and my dad is Croatian so I have a German nationality and a Croatian nationality. I played seven or eight games for the Croatian national team at U17. I played against Brazil and we drew 1-1, I played against Spain and we won 3-1 and I played against France. Hopefully I will get a chance to play for Croatia in the future. I am unware of having any Scottish relations!”

Although Croatian at international level, Lukas is very much a product of German football. Vorsprung durch technik you might say.

“I grew up in Stuttgart and started my career there. I played for five years before moving to Karlsruhe for one year and then joined Bayern Munich for two seasons. I am a Bayern Munich fan and they are one of the biggest clubs in the world, so that was an incredible experience.

“We used to get hundreds of people turning up just to watch the training sessions. Even when I used to be out in the city with my friends, people would recognise me as a Bayern player and would come up and speak with me. That was unbelievable.

“Bayern was only a little step in my career but being part of such a big organisation taught me a lot. They are an extremely well run club, all the staff were great, the coaching was at a very high level and the training facilities were very good.

“It is obviously very difficult for young players to break into the Munich first team. Very few players ever get the chance but when you play for the Bayern U17s, U18s or U19s, you maybe have to take the next step by going on and playing for another club in Germany or elsewhere.

“After leaving Munich I played at Dortmund for a season and a half. Again, it was a very good club to continue my education. The training pitches there were even better than at Bayern. We had ten pitches there compared with the five in Munich. The pitches were like a putting green.”

It doesn’t take Einstein to work out that this might be a big reason why Germany are world champions and Scotland aren’t. But are there any other differences between German and Scottish football at youth level?

“At youth level, I think Scottish football is different to German football. I think Scottish football is harder. It is easier to play in Germany. In Germany it is all pass, dribbling, pass, dribbling, where here, there is far more tackling. I love the game here. It suits my style of play. In training we do a lot more running and physical work as opposed to just ball work, which again I like. I think that is important for my development as a player.”

In his first three games, the Dons conceded only one goal and Lukas played with three different central defensive partners, Scott McKenna, who has now gone on loan to Ayr United, Ash Taylor who was making his comeback from injury and more recently Michael Rose who he has now formed a good partnership with.

“I have played three games and we have won them all which is great. We played very well in the game against Celtic. They had a good team, you could see they have good players, but we were better.

“It is not a problem for me playing with different players. It does not matter who I play with, the communication must be perfect. Communication with your central defensive partner is one of the most important things as a defender. Also I think it is very important that you play with a clear head. When I can do that, it is easy for me to play.”